TestDox

What is TestDox?

TestDox is a tool for .NET developers to obtain a *summary* view of all unit tests in a solution in an easily readable format.

TestDox does not execute tests, does not report test coverage and is not a unit testing framework of any sort.

TestDox was inspired by some comments on Dan North’s blog and is intended to bridge the gap (that sometimes exists) between developers and business analysts.

What can I do with TestDox?

TestDox can be executed from the command line with a range of command line arguments.

TestDox can be integrated into your automated builds.

Typical usage scenarios include:

you need to familiarise yourself with the purpose/intention of some existing unit test code

you need to review a developer’s understanding of a task prior to implementation coding (when doing TDD/BDD)

you want to validate requirements with an analyst/product owner

If unit tests are written/named in a suitable way, the output from TestDox reads like a set of simple user stories or scenarios. This can then be peer reviewed for completeness or discussed with an analyst or product owner to confirm the understanding of the requirements.

What does TestDox produce?

Here’s a simple example of what TestDox can produce (click here for full page):

Example TestDox output

…as you can see, there’s nothing there to blow your mind – but that’s the point: the simplicity of TestDox is that it just shows you what unit tests have been written – nothing more.